Free Republic

Solar should be competing for sales in the marketplace, not for subsidies in Washington,' ... The Biden administration quietly issued a 59-page report outlining the current scope of federal energy-related subsidies revealed that the renewable energy sector enjoys significantly larger taxpayer backing than the fossil fuel industry. The report — authored by the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) and published in August — represents the first of its kind since 2018. The EIA analyzed data from 2016 through 2022, and determined that, during that time period, the federal government doled out $183.3 billion in direct and mainly indirect...

Gov. Ron DeSantis says he’d take a hard line against North Korea if necessary, including a preemptive military strike in the event evidence said they were gunning for the U.S. first. On Tuesday’s CBS Evening News, the Florida Governor said he would do so if “you knew that there was definitely someone was about to launch a missile at you.” “Of course, you take action to prevent and protect your people, but that would require a certain amount of evidentiary threshold,” DeSantis told Norah O’Donnell. “I don’t think you just go willy nilly.” DeSantis also said he would keep North...

Kremlin propagandist has issued the latest nuclear threat against the West regarding the war in Ukraine, warning that the U.S. could be in danger of a Russian missile attack. Igor Korotchenko, editor of the newspaper National Defense and a regular guest on the Russia 1 channel where guests have repeatedly called for strikes against Ukraine's allies, took exception to criticism of Russian conduct in the war. "Russia is being warned and threatened that if we misbehave, or if in [NATO senior member for logistics] Ben Hodges' opinion, we exceed what he considers to be the necessary permissible lines for the...

Some analysts expect that existing grid capacity may be enough to power U.S. electric cars in the near future, yet they do not rule out the possibility of new coal or nuclear plants coming on line if renewable energy sources are not developed. Dear EarthTalk: Isn’t the interest in electric cars and plug-in hybrids going to spur increased reliance on coal as a power source? And is that really any better than gasoline/oil in terms of environmental impact? —Graham Rankin, via e-mail It’s true that the advent of electric cars is not necessarily a boon for the environment if it...

Weapons of Mass Destruction: Chem Bio Traditionally, Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) were Chemical, Biological, Radiologic and Nuclear (CBRN). The people of the world don’t want them used on us—they are cheap ways to kill and maim lots of people at once. And so international treaties were created to try to prevent their development (sometimes) and use. First was the Geneva Protocol of 1925, banning the use of biological and chemical weapons in war. The US and many nations signed it, but it took 50 years for the US to ratify it, so we believed we were not bound by...

It's more than half a decade late coming online and has cost billions more than estimated, but Georgia Power's Vogtle Unit 3, the first US nuclear reactor built from scratch this century, has finally come online. Located near Waynesboro, Georgia, the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant's third reactor will supply an estimated 500,000 homes and businesses in the region with power. Utility companies in Georgia, Florida and Alabama all receive electricity generated by Vogtle's existing reactors, the first two of which came online in the late 1980s, and a fourth power facility is due to come online within the...

Canada’s plans to make nuclear power a central part of its decarbonization strategy are taking shape with major announcements around large nuclear builds, small modular reactors and medical isotopes.. Nuclear power accounts for around 15% of Canada’s electricity generation with most capacity in Ontario where some 40% of the population resides. A total of 19 reactors provide around 13.6 gigawatts (GW) across the country, though most are in the provinces of Ontario and New Brunswick, which are 60% and 36% powered by nuclear respectively. ... increasingly vocal support for urgent greenhouse-gas-emission reduction have helped bring the government back to nuclear...

North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions and high-level diplomatic efforts. Recent ballistic missile tests and military parades suggest that North Korea is continuing to build a nuclear warfighting capability designed to evade regional ballistic missile defenses. Such an approach likely reinforces a deterrence and coercive diplomacy strategy—lending more credibility as it demonstrates capability—but it also raises questions about crisis stability and escalation control.U.S. policy as well as U.N. resolutions call on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs. Kim Jong Un has repeatedly rejected “denuclearization” talks. According...

As Capt. Tom Davis stands at the tailgate of the military cargo plane, the night air sweeps through the hold. His eyes search the black terrain 1,200 feet below. He grips the canvas of his reserve parachute and takes a deep breath. Davis and the men who make up his Special Forces A-team are among the most highly trained soldiers in the U.S. Army. It's 1972, and Davis isn't far removed from a tour in Vietnam, where he operated along the Cambodian border. His communications sergeant served in Command and Control North, which was responsible for some of the most...

One person was killed and more than 100 were hospitalized Friday in an explosion at the world's largest uranium enrichment plant in central Russia's Ural mountains.The incident in a workshop at the Ural Electrochemical Combine in Novouralsk happened after a cylinder with depleted uranium hexafluoride was "depressurized" at about 9 a.m. local time, according to Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which owns the plant. Local news outlet E1 referred to the incident as an explosion..... Vyacheslav Tyumentsev, head of the Novouralsk Urban District, told residents not to panic."I appeal to the residents of Novouralsk with a request not to panic,...

President Biden on Thursday said China has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against using nuclear weapons during the war in Ukraine. In a joint press conference with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, Biden was asked if there are new concerns about Putin taking more drastic steps following disarray among Russian generals and the rebellion by the Wagner Group. “I don’t think there’s any real prospect — you never know — of Putin using nuclear weapons. Not only has the West, but China and the rest of the world has said, ‘don’t go there,’” Biden said in Helsinki.

WASHINGTON — The Navy has published the final draft of its environmental impact statement assessing how it should go about dismantling the former aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-65), a process that will likely set decades-long precedents for future nuclear-powered ships. Environmental impact statements, as the name implies, are lengthy documents that outline the dangers to the ecosystem that disposing of decades-old nuclear reactors can pose, as well as identify one of several courses of action with which the Navy prefers to move forward. Due to the numerous state and federal agencies that must weigh in, as well as considering the general...

Sweden has figured out a way to produce reliable energy without fossil fuels. It’s looking to build new nuclear power plants. The European Union has been extremely aggressive in pushing to reduce carbon emissions. By 2030, it wants to reduce emissions by 55 percent compared with 1990 levels. Then, it wants to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Not surprisingly, this hasn’t gone well. Some countries worry about job losses from eliminating gas-powered cars. Prices on things from food to air travel are likely to increase, perhaps dramatically. The cost pressure is contributing to a destabilization in European politics. [...] Sweden...

Ukraine's military spy chief said on Thursday that the threat of a Russian attack on the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was receding, but that it could easily return as long as the facility remained under occupation by Moscow's forces. The intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, made the comment in an interview with Reuters after days of warnings by Ukrainian and Russian officials accusing each other of plotting an attack at Europe's largest nuclear plant.

A Canadian utility is starting early work to expand a nuclear plant, potentially building the world’s biggest facility as growing demand for clean energy spurs interest in atomic energy. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Ontario government said Wednesday Bruce Power will conduct an environmental assessment of adding as much as 4.8 gigawatts of capacity to its plant in Canada’s most-populous province. The plant’s eight reactors currently have about 6.2 gigawatts of capacity and supply 30 per cent of the province’s power. The expansion would make the site larger than Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, the...

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) experts have not found explosives during their recent inspections of parts of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. However, the on-site experts haven’t yet received access to the rooftops of reactor units three and four, as well as parts of the turbine halls and the cooling system, according to the IAEA’s July 5 press release. Director General Rafael Grossi emphasized the importance of IAEA experts being able to inspect all parts of the nuclear power plant. “With military tension and activities increasing in the region where this major nuclear power plant is located, our...

Ukraine claimed that Russian troops occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had planted bombs on the facility’s roof in preparation for an imminent sabotage – even as Moscow accused Kyiv of plotting a “false-flag” attack. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address Tuesday that he told France’s Emmanuel Macron in a phone conversation about Russian “dangerous provocations” at the plant in southeastern Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s forces seized control of Zaporizhzhia — Europe’s largest nuclear facility — in the first days of the invasion in February 2022, and it has remained in Russian hands for the past 16 months....

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Tuesday that he is under the impression that Russian forces will destroy the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russia's control. Russia has told staff to leave the plant by July 5. "Now we have information from our intelligence," Zelensky said on Twitter, "that the Russian military has placed objects resembling explosives on the roof of several power units of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant."

The Swedish Parliament announced that it is abandoning its green energy targets. Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson explained that "wind and solar power are too unstable to meet the nation's energy requirements. Only a nuclear pathway is viable to remain industrialized and competitive. The goal of a 100% renewable energy supply is infeasible and must be scrapped." Biden's climate envoy John Kerry called this decision "disappointing. By breaking away from a uniform acceptance of the necessary reduced standard of living, Sweden risks reigniting a global quest for prosperity that constitutes the chief threat to our climate goals. This is their second...

Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, has said that the civilised world will consider Russia's probable terrorist attack on the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) as "the use of nuclear weapons against the civilian population".Quote: The very fact that these terrorists carry out such a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility will be considered by all civilised countries to be the use of nuclear weapons against the civilian population. Therefore, we will watch very carefully, if God forbid it happens, which reaction would the world have following these events."Details: Danilov added that the world's reaction...